acme

[ak-mee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR acme ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the highest point; summit; peak: The empire was at the acme of its power.

Origin of acme

First recorded in 1610–20, acme is from the Greek word akmḗ point, highest point, extremity

Related formsac·mic

[ak-mik] /ˈæk mɪk/, ac·mat·ic

[ak-mat-ik] /ækˈmæt ɪk/, adjective

Can be confusedacme acne

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for acme

culmination, apogee, zenith, top, vertex, height, summit, peak, meridian, climax, ultimate, capstone, optimum

Examples from the Web for acme

Contemporary Examples of acme

The team behind Indochine and Acme is also opening Tijuana Picnic in the LES sometime this month.
Who to See and Where to be Seen: The Hot Tips for New York Fashion Week
Barbara Ragghianti
September 3, 2014
He is the acme of political correctness (notwithstanding the odd drone directed at “AfPak”).
Mr. Politically Correct Obama, Meet Your Opposite, India’s Mr. Modi
Tunku Varadarajan
May 17, 2014
I did comedy sketches of her at ACME, but she was known as ‘The Other Mrs. Gabor’ then.
‘Family Guy’ Star Alex Borstein Is Ready for Her HBO Close-Up
Marlow Stern
November 12, 2013
But Sanjay seems today like an adumbration, rather than the acme, of authoritarian possibilities in India.
Hold Onto Your Penis
David Frum, Justin Green
November 29, 2012
ACME has a mousetrap division that is not performing very well.
Capital Gains: Answering Krugman and Bernstein
David Frum
January 23, 2012

Historical Examples of acme

Traffic was intense, and had reached what might be supposed its acme.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
Why, it was almost as bad as that acme of horrors, a chimney-pot hat!
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)
William Delisle Hay
But that's no matter, for the acme of my military ambitions is now attained.
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Paul Jones.
This generous disposition of yours I now regard as acme of human dower.
Oswald Langdon
Carson Jay Lee
Sir Donald follows the sense of compassion, which often is the acme of intrinsic craft.
Oswald Langdon
Carson Jay Lee

British Dictionary definitions for acme

acme

noun

the culminating point, as of achievement or excellence; summit; peak

Word Origin for acme

C16: from Greek akmē

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for acme

"highest point," 1560s, from Greek akme "(highest) point, edge; peak of anything," from PIE root *ak- "sharp" (see acrid). Written in Greek letters until c.1620. The U.S. grocery store chain was founded 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.